In environments such as schools, illuminated signs are often vandalized. Vandalism occurring to emergency signs such as exit signs presents a hazard in the event of an actual emergency. Accordingly, tamper-resistant illuminated exit signs have been developed.
Typically, tamper-resistant illuminated exit signs use a plastic shield that is wrapped around both the front face and the bottom of the sign housing. The shield is often held on by tamper-resistant screws that are usually located in the four corners of the front face as well as in two locations in the bottom. Thus, in order to access the electronics within the exit sign, all six tamper-resistant screws must be removed. This is time consuming and burdensome to those who legitimately need to access the interior of the sign.
Another tamper-resistant illuminated exit sign has been developed which attempts to solve the problems mentioned above with respect to the typical tamper-resistant illuminated exit signs. This modified tamper-resistant illuminating exit sign attempts to facilitate entry by attaching a plastic shield only to the face of the exit sign through the use of four tamper-resistant screws. Three short screws extend only into the face of the exit sign and one long screw extends completely into and is secured to the housing. Each of the screws are located in a corner of the sign. Thus, it is necessary to remove only one tamper-resistant screw for accessing the interior of the exit sign.
However, this modified tamper-resistant exit sign has numerous disadvantages. For instance, the long screw is difficult to engage with the housing since it must be secured to the back of the housing. Additionally, since the long screw is positioned in a corner, the degree of tamper resistance across the exit sign is not uniform. Further, the modified tamper-resistant exit sign is not readily convertible to a double-faced exit sign, i.e., an exit sign with the word "EXIT" on two, oppositely facing sides.
Examples of prior art illuminated signs are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 2,029,221 to Burgess et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 3,324,290 to Lasker; U.S. Pat. No. 3,402,494 to Gray; U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,462 to Pregel et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 4,201,005 to Hunt; U.S. Pat. No. 4,967,317 to Plumly; U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,290 to Kozek et al.; U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,109 to Grondal; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,485,145 to Sniff. Examples of prior art tamper-resistant signs are disclosed in the following U.S. Pat. No. 1,983,105 to Stewart; U.S. Pat. No. 2,763,007 to Neely; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,383,382 to Hegarty.
Thus, there is a continuing need to provide improved tamper-resistant illuminated signs, especially tamper-resistant illuminated exit signs. This invention addresses this need in the art along with other needs which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.